Crimson Flames
by CallMeHannah
Summary: Another case closed...but the threats don't stop. *Set after the season 5 finale* Some Jisbon moments. Please feel free to review, they are all really appreciated. :)
1. Chapter 1 - The Flames

**Chapter 1.**

The car pulls in to the car park from the main street, away from all of the

traffic, where people are on their way home for the weekend, except for one. He reverses into one of the vacant spaces facing a very specific window; the curtains are drawn but the light behind them reveals two shadows, as far as Jane can tell. He's had a hunch for the past two days that something would happen, Red John possibly, it was just something that has been bothering him. There had been something odd with the last case where a small town business woman who had been laundering money was killed, the killer had painted the blood red smiley face that Jane knew all too well. It was an open and shut case for the CBI, someone close to her had tried to stop her but ended up killing her and trying to blame it on Red John. The tell-tale sign that it wasn't the elusive serial killer was that the circle of blood was drawn anti-clockwise. With yet another copycat, Red John would resurface, make a scene so that people would know how powerful he was and the easiest way is to go after Jane or one of his colleagues. Van Pelt has Rigsby by her side 24/7, and Red John wouldn't go after Cho, which just leaves Lisbon. That's why, for the second night in a row, he is staking out her house. As far as he knows, she hasn't clocked onto his antics just yet, but Lisbon being Lisbon, it wouldn't be long until she would work it out.

On his dashboard is a flask accompanied with a few biscuits and a Tupperware box filled with sandwiches. The air is muggy, so the window is open just a crack to let the sweet smelling night air in, ruffling his short blonde curls. Reclining his seat back a little, he takes in a deep breath. _Seven names…seven… _he closes his eyes, deep in thought, _two shadows. _His eyes flick open, there were two shadows…he straightens up and looks around in the car park, there are only another five cars with him…none of his colleagues' cars are there. Then, at the end of the row, closest to the street is a Lamborghini, a bright tangerine coloured one, too posh to be around in this neighbourhood, which points to the owner being a visitor. And it's extremely possible that this person is visiting Lisbon. That, tied in with the car, points to only person…Mashburn. He didn't particularly like the guy, having twice been a murder suspect, but he knows that he and Lisbon had had a _thing_ a few years ago, he could tell – it was as obvious as when Grace and Wayne were sneaking around together – but that wasn't any of his business. His heart sinks a little, though he tries to ignore the feeling, it reassures him that she is not alone. With that thought, he leans back and closes his eyes once again. It's been a long day and he's tired, he'd only managed to catch an hour or two back on his couch at the precinct, but after a long and difficult case, he welcomes the chance to catch some rest. _Lisbon's safe…she's safe…_ and with that thought, he drifts off into a deep sleep.

"Dad?" he sees his daughter Charlotte across the dark room.

Surveying it, it seems familiar to him, he's definitely been in here before. She's sitting down on a chair behind a metal desk, a light is overhead swinging from side to side. He sits opposite her and reaches across to hold her outstretched hands.

"Charlotte," he smiles.

"Dad, how are you?"

"Not too bad, how are you?"

She does not speak, but smiles in reply.

"It's great to see you without, y'know, being under the influence of drugs and all."

She laughs, a single tear rolls down her cheek, "I miss you," she cries.

"Hey," he lifts his hand to wipe away the tear, "don't cry. I miss you too, I miss you so much." Only now does he notice that he is crying too.

"Dad, you have to wake up," she sobs, "please wake up."

The light above them turns crimson, making the room appear that its walls have been painted with blood.

"Dad, wake up, please! You need to wake up!"

Patrick's eyes burst open to see flames eat up the curtains that had blocked his view into her apartment.

"Lisbon?" he whispers.

He gets out of his car and moves closer to the building. There are people screaming, amongst the constant whine of the fire alarm and fire engine sirens that are approaching. They won't be able to get to her in time…but he can. Without a seconds thought, he races to the stairwell and battles with the oncoming tide of other residents. They tussle down the stairs, crying children accompanied by their concerned parents. After weaving through the mass of people, he manages to get to Lisbon's front door. Smoke pours like liquid nitrogen from underneath the solid door.

"Lisbon!" He shouts, but there is no reply, "Mashburn!" Still no reply, "Guess there is only one thing for it." He tells himself.

He shifts back and then charges at the door, his shoulder bearing the brunt of the force. The door doesn't budge, so Jane tries again and again and again until the door buckles, as well as his shoulder blade. Smoke envelops him as he cries out, he can't breathe, but he can't go back without her. Bravely, he blindly enters the burning flat. Frantically, he tries to remember the layout as he shuffles along, his arm clinging to his jacket to support his shoulder. He faces down, trying to avoid a face full of thick smoke.

"Teresa!" he shouts.

Then he shuffles into something on the floor, too heavy to be anything other than a body. The smoke clears long enough for Jane to see Walter Mashburn's body, his throat has been slit and his eyes remain open. With his free hand, Jane closes them out of respect.

"I'm sorry," he tells the man, before stepping over him and continuing to find his partner.

Flames reach out to grab him, the fire is spreading quicker than he imagined, he hasn't got much time. He reaches the bedroom door, where a chair has been wedged underneath the handle so it can't open. With a single kick, it breaks apart and the door swings open. There is less smoke in the bedroom so it's a little easier to breathe.

"Lisbon!" he calls out again, "LISBON!"

"Jane?" a faint whisper escapes the darkness, followed by a cough, followed by "Jane, is that you?"

"Where are you?"

"Over here."

He finds her by the window, soot covering her face and pyjamas. She's shaking.

"How…?" she tries to ask.

"Questions later, let's get out of here."

"What…about…Walter?"

Jane shakes his head and she wipes her eyes.

"C'mon, we need to get going."

She clings onto his free arm and they both shuffle out of the bedroom, coughing. From outside the front, they can hear the shouts of the firemen, which they use to guide them to the door. Again they run into Walter, although Jane tried to avoid him. Immediately, Lisbon knows what she collided with and clutches onto Jane's arm tighter.

"It's alright, we're gonna be okay," he repeats twice before Lisbon elbows him in the ribs.

They emerge from the smoke coughing and shaking, thankful for being out in the fresh air. Their eyes begin to adjust to the night.

"Hey, get some oxygen over here! We've got two survivors!" Someone shouts from the top of the stairs.

Jane turns to Lisbon, "you okay?"

"Yeah," she coughs.

Before they reach the stairwell, they each receive an oxygen mask and then guided to the car park where Rigsby, Van Pelt and Cho are waiting for them. They all rush over when two paramedics lead them to waiting ambulances.

"Thank god you're both okay," Rigsby tells them, "What happened?"

One of the paramedics places a blanket over Teresa's shoulders, when she sits down on a nearby bench. Jane is rushed into one of the emergency vehicles. Cho joins him whilst Van Pelt and Rigsby stay with their boss.

"How'd you get here so fast?" Cho asks Jane.

"Just passing by." Jane replies.

"Liar," Cho counters, "there's a flask of tea and box of sandwiches in your car, you were staking her place out weren't you?"

"No," Jane tries to sound as innocent as possible, which doesn't work with a professional like Cho.

"Why? You knew that something like this was going to happen?"

The paramedic pushes a needle into Jane's wrist, he winches and tries to get Cho off his back.

"I think that I've broken something, can this wait?"

"I'm coming with you, just give me a sec," Cho tells him, then retreats back to the rest of the team, "I'm going with Jane to the hospital. He's broken something."

"I'll stay, Lisbon wasn't the only one in there," Rigsby informs Cho, he pulls him aside before adding, "Walter Mashburn was with Lisbon when the fire started, he didn't make it."

Cho nods a reply, and then climbs into the back of Jane's ambulance, which shortly after, drives off.

"Are you going to the hospital too, boss?" Van Pelt asks.

"No, I'm gonna stay." Lisbon firmly replies.


	2. Chapter 2 - Recovery

**Chapter 2.**

It took the firemen an hour to finally put out the blaze, Mashburn has been pulled from the wreckage and taken to the coroner's office. Although it is hard to watch, Lisbon has stayed, along with Rigsby and Van Pelt, hoping that she can salvage some of her belongings. A few questions whirled round and round in her mind: _how did Jane get to her so fast? Why was she targeted? _ None of it makes any sense whatsoever. Rigsby had already started making phone calls to the Bureau, making them collect CCTV footage of all the cameras in a five block radius, whilst Van Pelt is speaking to one of the forensics geeks. Lisbon feels useless, she feels fine apart from the shock – one minute she was sleeping, the next, she can't breathe or get out.

"Lisbon?" Van Pelt interrupts her thoughts.

"Huh?" Lisbon automatically replies.

"I said do you want to go the precinct?" she repeats.

"No, thanks, I'm good."

"Are you sure? You sort of blanked out before," Rigsby adds.

"Yeah, we can carry on here if you want to go."

She pauses for a minute, she has a change of clothes at work, and it would be nice to get out of the sooty pyjamas.

"Okay," she gives in, "have you heard anything about Jane?"

"He has a fractured shoulder blade, they've given him medication and put it in a sling," Rigsby informs her, "Cho is taking him back to the precinct."

"At least you'll have company," Van Pelt tries to cheer her up, without much success, "I'm sorry about Mashburn," she adds sympathetically.

"Thanks," Teresa reply is little more than a whisper, it hasn't quite sunk in.

"I'll take you back," Grace offers, "Wayne can handle forensics."

And with that, Van Pelt leads Lisbon to her car and they set off into the night.

"You're not getting out of the car until you tell what is going on," Cho tells Jane, pushing the child lock button.

"Nothing's going on," Jane yawns, trying to pull up the lock on his door, but it doesn't budge, "I told you, I was just passing by."

"At 2 o'clock in the morning?"

"Yeah."

"Where did you go after you left the precinct?"

"Movies." Jane replies, innocently.

"What did you watch?" Kimble counters.

"Erm…"

"Your car was too perfectly parked for you to pull in and run to Lisbon's apartment, so…"

"Fine, yeah, I've had a hunch for the past few days, so I've been…"

"Staking out the boss's apartment?" Cho interrupts.

"No," he replies, "I've just been keeping watch, that's all."

"Why?" Cho knows that he's closing in on Jane's big secret, when Jane hesitates, he presses, "c'mon Jane, why?"

"I've just had a feeling, that's all," he caves in, "something about the last case that was a little off."

"Someone impersonated Red John, of course it's going to be _off_ as you put it."

"Can we go now?" Jane enquires, "I really need to sit on my couch."

Cho shakes his head a little and turns off the child lock.

"Thank you," Patrick sighs wearily.

The door swings open and Jane delicately slides out, trying as hard as possible not to jar his shoulder too much. Cho joins him and then they make their way inside the precinct. Within minutes, they are inside their own precinct. As soon as the lift door opens, Jane makes a b-line for his sofa, only to find it already occupied.

"Hey," Lisbon smiles at him when he appears.

"Hey," he parrots, slowly and carefully descending onto the soft, leather cushion.

"Thank you," she tells him, "how's your shoulder?"

"Not too bad," he smiles, "you okay?"

"Not to break up the party," Cho interrupts before Lisbon can respond, "but Jane, you need to explain to everyone what you think is going on."

Lisbon gives Jane a questioning look, he holds his good arm up in surrender.

"Good things come to those who wait," he replies.

"Well, we could have died tonight…" Teresa raises her eyebrows.

"Fine, but can we wait for Rigsby; I hate having to repeat myself."

Two hours later, Rigsby returns to the precinct, holding his scribbled down notes that he made at the crime scene. Lisbon and Jane have both crashed out on his sofa, after he gave her 'special permission' to use it under the circumstances. Van Pelt has fallen asleep on her office chair and Cho in his. Having surveyed the scene, he's glad Jane was able to get to Lisbon in time, Mashburn's remains were unrecognisable though the coroner had managed to determine to the cause of death. Forensics have also identified an accelerant that was used in the fire: kerosene. He'd seen the effects of it when he was working with the San Francisco arson squad. He makes his way over to his desk and places the file on his desk. Cho stirs before Rigsby has a chance to sit down.

"Hey," he yawns, "all done at the crime scene?"

"Yeah," he replies quietly, as not to wake the others, "got my notes here."

"Pass it over," Cho wipes the sleep from his eyes and sits up.

Rigsby hands him the ripped pages from a reporter's notebook and then turns on his computer.

"Rigsby, your handwriting is awful," Cho comments, "I'm surprised that I can read it."

"Ow," he sarcastically remarks, "that hurts."

"I've sent you the videos that we got from CCTV," Cho tells him, still engrossed in Rigsby's notes, "Grace and I have managed to go through a tape each, but we don't know exactly what we're looking for."

"Like looking for a needle in a stack of needles?"

"Pretty much."

"Wayne, you're back," Van Pelt mumbles tiredly, "what did you find?"

Rigsby tells her about the kerosene used as the accelerant and Mashburn's cause of death, he quickly glimpses over to the sofa, where Lisbon and Jane are sound asleep.

"Jane has something that he wants to tell us, but he wanted to wait until you got back," Cho tells him, "something about an odd feeling."

"Yeah? Well until he wakes up, I'll get started on one of the tapes," Rigsby replies.

"That won't take long," Jane faintly murmurs from across the bullpen.

"You've been listening to us the whole time?" Cho asks him.

"Well, it was hard not to when you were speaking so loud," he counters, smiling.

"Okay then, we're all here, so go on, evaluate your _feeling _then," Cho air quotes.

"Nope, Lisbon's not awake, it can wait until morning," Jane responds, closing his eyes again.

"You've got to be kidding me," Grace sighs.

"Nope, no kidding," Jane murmurs, before falling into his own calming trance.

_I have no idea how to tell them…or how much I should tell them, if they all know, _he tells himself, _then how much danger are they in._

The dawn breaks earlier than expected, and Rigsby is still going through the video that he started before. Cho, Jane, Lisbon and Van Pelt are all fast asleep, but Wayne has no time for sleep; he has to find some kind of solid lead to find whoever did this, besides, he had consumed enough coffee to keep him awake for several hours. So far, he had spotted several passes by, hundreds of cars, but nothing suspicious so far.

"Rigsby," Jane calls from his spot on the sofa.

"Yeah," he sighs in reply, "can you make me a cup of tea?"

"No, remember what happened last time I made you one?"

"Mmmm…yes, it was awful," he pauses, "can you wake Cho for me?"

"If I help you get up, will you make it yourself?" Wayne swivels round to face him.

"Suppose so," Jane replies.

Rigsby gets up and makes his way over to the sofa.

"How're we going to do this?" he asks.

"If I shuffle forward, could you gently pull me up with my good arm?"

"Let's do it."

Patrick manages to shuffle to the edge of the cushion without knocking into Lisbon; he reaches out for Rigsby, who delicately pulls him up. At first, he is a little disoriented, but he finds his bearings and heads towards the break room. Rigsby shakes his head slightly in disbelief, it he had a broken shoulder, he would've screamed like hell if anyone had to pull him up like that.

"Hey," Van Pelt stirs next, "what are you doing?"

"I was just helping Jane up, do you want a drink? I need another coffee," he smiles.

"Yeah, please, did you find anything on the tape?"

"Nope, " he replies, making a break for the coffee machine.

Other CBI officers are now starting to make their way into work, the bullpen will soon be a bustling hive of activity, which means that Cho and Lisbon will wake up sooner than they expect.


	3. Chapter 3 - Wolf In Sheep's Clothing

**Chapter 3.**

When Rigsby joins Jane in the break room, he finds him sitting on one of the dining chairs, sipping a cup of tea.

"Making a drink with one hand really isn't as easy as it looks," he comments.

"It was really brave of you, to go into a burning building to rescue Lisbon," Rigsby replies, grabbing two mugs from one of the overhead cabinets.

"But I didn't save Mashburn," Jane responds, "I didn't exactly like the guy, but he didn't deserve that."

"You think he was the target?"

"I don't know," Jane tells him simply, "but we'll soon find out won't we."

"You didn't see anything suspicious though, when you arrived at her place?"

"No, nothing," Jane isn't sure if he should continue, but he does, "I fell asleep. I only woke up when I heard the sirens."

"You were staking out Lisbon's apartment?" Wayne drops the stirrer into the cup with the freshly brewed coffee and turns to fully face him.

"Why does everyone keep referring to it as 'staking out'? I was merely concerned for her safety, so I was outside her house to protect her," Jane tries to make it sound normal.

"And she had no idea?"

"Do you really think she would let me do it if she knew?"

"Fair point. Nothing has come up on CCTV yet, but we're still looking."

"What if Walter was the target, then someone may have been following him," Patrick theorises aloud.

"We'll look into that," the agent replies, "where is Lisbon going to go now?"

After a moment of silence, Jane says "she can stay with me."

Wayne suppresses the urge to laugh out loud.

"What?" Jane acts surprised.

"Nothing," Rigsby hurries out of the room, almost scalding both of his hands with the coffee.

"What?" he repeats, following him back into the bullpen.

"Nothing," Rigsby replies, handing Van Pelt one of the mugs.

"What are you two going on about?" she asks.

"I have offered to let Lisbon stay at my while her apartment is…in the way it is," Jane tells her.

"And you are chasing Rigsby around because…?"

"He laughed at me!" Jane replies, louder than intended.

Cho and Lisbon wake up, both a little confused as to what the fuss is all about.

"Before you ask, Rigsby started it," Jane tells them.

"Yeah, but Jane was the one who shouted," Rigsby counters.

"God, will you two stop acting like children," Lisbon scolds them, "it's good we're up so we can get started."

Rigsby and Jane exchange childish glances and then both go to their own desks.

"Any leads so far?"

"Nothing on the videos," Rigsby answers, "but Jane made a valid point earlier, what if Mashburn was the target?"

"Then he would have been followed," Van Pelt adds, "I'm on it."

"I'll get forensics on it, see if the killer came with him in his own car," Cho says picking up the phone.

"Jane, can I have a word?" Lisbon asks him.

"Yeah, sure," he follows her into her office.

As soon as the door clicked shut, Lisbon asks him, "So, what is this feeling of yours? I mean, is it something that we should be worried about or…"

"No, no, no, well…I don't know, I don't know how to explain it," he replies, struggling to find the exact words.

"Don't beat around the bush Jane, just tell me," she tells him sternly.

"It's like déjà vu," he replies, "it's just one of those feelings."

She looks into his eyes and knows that he is telling her the truth.

"Lisbon," he whispers, looking into her eyes, "if you want to, you can stay with me."

"Errm…" she's too lost in his eyes to speak.

"Boss," Rigsby opens the door, "sorry, I'm not interrupting anything am I?"

"No, not at all, what is it?"

"We've got Mashburn's car on video," he informs them.

"We're coming," she replies, and then she turns to Patrick, "thanks Jane, I'll think about it."

They follow him back into the bullpen to Van Pelt's desk, she typing away on her keyboard with Cho looking over her shoulder. As soon as they are all gathered round, she presses 'play', after a few seconds, the bright red Ferrari comes into view, the roof is down, so they can clearly see Walter in the front seat, but there is no-one sitting in the passenger seat next to him.

"Is there anyone tailing him?" Lisbon asks.

"Doesn't look like it," Van Pelt answers, looking closely at the screen.

"Why was he at yours anyway?" Jane asks.

Van Pelt, Cho and Rigsby all turn away from the screen to look at Lisbon.

"He just wanted to catch up, that's all." She tells them.

_Liar,_ Jane can tell when she is lying, and she is definitely holding back on them.

"At that time of night?" Rigsby adds.

"What did you talk about?" Cho interjects.

"He was interested in our previous case, and as it is closed, I told him about it."

"Did he say why he was interested in it?"

"No, I guess that he heard about it on the news and got interested."

"What did you tell him?" Jane enquires, merely out of curiosity.

"Just what happened, the Red John stooge and how we tracked the killer, that's all."

"We need to review the last case," Cho says, "see if there are any links between the victim or killer and Walter."

"Do you think that he's a part of this?" Lisbon asks him.

"I just think it wouldn't hurt," he replies, "if that's okay with you, boss."

Teresa pauses for a moment to think, the others wait anxiously for her answer.

"Rigsby, can you go and get the case file from storage," she asks him, "Cho, Van Pelt, as soon as he gets back, start going through all the people we interviewed and see if you can find any of the usual links between them. Rigsby, you do the same but with Franco and Harrison. Jane and I are going to speak to Walters associates, see if there was anyone suspicious hanging around lately. Oh, Van Pelt, can I borrow your car?"

"On it, boss," Rigsby replies, before setting off to storage.

"Sure," she throws her car keys to Lisbon.

"I'll get some extra manpower in to go through the rest of the CCTV video," Cho adds.

"Good, c'mon Jane, let's get going," she shouts over to him.

Like an obedient puppy, he follows her to the lift and as soon as they are out of earshot of the others; he whispers to her: "Liar."

"Excuse me?"

"Back there, you didn't tell us the whole story, did you?"

She sighs, "No."

"You want to tell me about it?" he asks her gently.

"Maybe later, let's just see what we're dealing with first."

"Tell you what, when you explain to me how you got to my apartment so quickly, I'll tell you what Walter and I talked about."

"Deal," he smiles in reply, "so, have you considered my offer?"

"Not yet," the doors open and they both get in, "but I'll let you know."

The weather outside is very warm, Jane immediately takes his jacket off, but it gets stuck on his injured shoulder. He tries to pull it off but it won't budge.

"Err…Lisbon," he calls to her, "a little help."

She smiles at him before gently lifting the sleeve up and then off his arm.

"Thanks," he tells her.

"Tell you what," she begins, "if you don't mind, I will accept your offer, so if you need any help, you don't have to call any of the others."

"Okay," he hooks the jacket over his arm, "so, do you think that the Harrison case is related to Mashburn?"

"I don't know," Lisbon replies, "he's been a suspect before, what's to say he hasn't killed someone this time."

"Well, you know, third time lucky," Patrick jokes and then climbs into the passenger's seat.

Lisbon sighs and joins him in the car.

"You okay?" he asks her, "This must be difficult for you."

"I'm fine," she responds, trying to convince herself as well as Patrick.

"Well, I'm here if you need me."

Back in the bullpen, the rest of the team are hard at work; Van Pelt and Cho are making light work of all the names they interviewed. The town where the murder took place was quite rural; the community was tightly knit and everybody knew each other well. Marie Harrison was a celebrity to them as she was a very successful businesswoman, everyone liked her. She was the only person in the town that's life extended outside it, once a week she made her way up to Sacramento to do business then return the same day to her shop. She had created a fake ID, under the name Anna Garside, to sell drugs on the street on the way back from Sacramento. Her killer was another dealer; he found out about her double lifestyle and tried to cash in, but ended up killing her instead, his name was Piero Franco.

Rigsby is halfway through a report when his phone rings.

"Hello?" he answers, Cho and Van Pelt both look up, "uh huh, really? You're sure? Okay, thank you." He puts the phone down.

"Who was that?"

"That was the coroner," he speaks slowly, as he tries to comprehend it himself, "when he was doing an autopsy on Mashburn, he found a wire."


	4. Chapter 4 - Not All Bad

**Chapter 4.**

Cho, Van Pelt and Rigsby exchange confused glances, none of them completely sure what to make of it.

"There must be a good explanation as to why he was bugged," Van Pelt begins.

"I'll get in touch with the FBI, see if he was working for them," Cho immediately reaches for the phone.

"If the FBI wanted to know about that, they could have asked us," Rigsby tells them, "this has nothing to do with them."

"What if he was in touch with someone else?" Van Pelt suggests.

"Let's see if there are any anomalies in his life when the murder investigation was on going," Cho replies, "I'll tell Jane, maybe Mashburn's friends can tell us if he's being acting strangely lately."

He picks up his desk phone and dials Jane's number, it would be better to get Jane to tell Lisbon, he has a way with Lisbon - though they would both deny it. She's been through a lot over the past few hours, her apartment gone; her friend gone; at least she has Patrick, Cho knows that he'll always be there for her. It was as obvious as Rigsby and Van Pelt were when they were sneaking around with each other, they deserve to be happy with each other, though neither has the guts to say it aloud.

"Cho, you okay?" Wayne asks him, breaking his train of thought.

"Huh?"

"You've just been sat there for a few minutes staring into space," Rigsby tells him.

"Yeah, I'm good," he mentally shakes himself before punching in the last number and pressing the phone to his ear.

After a few beeps, Jane answers.

"Hey Jane, it's Cho."

"Hi, have you found something?"

"Yeah, it's about Walter. The coroner found a bug on him."

"What kind of bug?"

"A microphone."

"Oh, that's not good."

"We think that he was wired to find information on the last case," Cho tells him, "can you ask his friends if he was acting strangely in the timeframe of the investigation?"

"Sure, that was the 7th of July until the 10th, wasn't it?"

"Yep," Cho answers, "I didn't phone Lisbon directly because it would be better coming from you."

"Why do you think that?"

"You're partners, she trusts you."

"And she trusts you, so what's your point?"

Lisbon looks at him questioningly.

"Okay Cho, I'll tell her," he enjoys getting under his skin, "anything else?"

"Nope, that's all for now."

"Okay, well, we'll see you soon."

"What was all that about?" Lisbon asks him as he puts his phone in his pocket.

"Coroner found a bug on Walter," he tells her, "it appears that it was not only him you were talking to."

"This makes no sense whatsoever, why would Walter do that?"

"What was he like last night?"

"He seemed fine," Lisbon is getting a little agitated, she hates getting interrogated, he doesn't mean to press, but in order to find out what happened last night, he has to ask the necessary questions.

"Okay, so maybe he kept his cool to not give away who was pressuring him," Jane suggests.

"But why would he do that? Why would he go behind my back like that?"

"Well, it wasn't for money; Walter was very wealthy, so blackmail? They had something on him?"

"Could you ring Cho back, ask him to look into his financials," Lisbon asks him.

"Sure," he pulls his phone from his trouser pocket and finds Cho's number in the 'recent calls' list.

Whilst they talk on the phone, Lisbon concentrates on the road, not really listening to the conversation going on beside her.

When Jane ends the brief call, he asks her "So who are we going to see first?"

"His friend Bernard Hayes, it was in the news lately that they were in business together," Teresa replies, "maybe he knew what was going on and why Walter was acting so strangely."

Bernard Haye's house is locked up behind large black iron gates, with a drive laden with expensive super cars ranging from older model Lamborghinis to modern Mercedes Benzes.

"It's a wonder he doesn't get robbed more often," Jane whispers to Lisbon as they approach the main gate.

"All of these put your car to shame," she smiles back, Jane tries to protest but is cut off when she presses the intercom that is built into the brick gatepost.

After a little static noise, a voice asks them "Yes? Who is it please?"

"Agent Lisbon from the CBI and my associate Patrick Jane, we wish to speak to Mr Hayes about Walter Mashburn."

"One moment please," the voice replies.

A few seconds later, the magnificent gates open and a woman appears at the front door.

"Agent Lisbon, Mr Jane, welcome," she beams at them, "please come in."

Lisbon and Jane sidestep between the row of delicately trimmed bushes and shiny cars, which every so often, Jane peers into to admire.

"Jane," Lisbon has to shout at him every time he does that, "will you hurry up, the lady is waiting."

"Don't worry," she replies, "Mr Hayes likes to show off his impressive collection to visitors. If you'll follow me, I'll take you to Mr Hayes."

"Thank you Miss…?"

"Oh Miss Castro," her accent broadens when she tells them her name.

"Castro, that's Italian, right?" Jane enquires.

"Yes, it's where I am originally from," she responds, "shall we?"

She leads them into the large foyer, a beautiful stairway curls along the curved wall of the circular room, which takes up only a quarter of the room. In front of them are a set of double doors made from expensive oak, which ties in with the tasteful décor of wooden furniture and paintings on the wall.

"He's just through there," she points at the double doors, "unfortunately; I have something else to attend to, if you will excuse me," she exits through another door to their left.

Lisbon goes first, opening the large doors to find Hayes sitting on a comfortable looking armchair beside a large window.

"Agent Lisbon I presume," he gives them a welcoming smile and gestures to them to sit on the matching sofa opposite him, "please."

"Mr Hayes, is it alright if we ask you a few questions about Walter Mashburn?"

"Of course, I heard about him on the news though, how awful."

"Was he behaving oddly during the past few days?" Jane interjects.

"No, but I'd not heard from him for years, until two weeks ago, he came here to ask me about setting up a business."

"And what was the proposal about, if you don't mind me asking?" Lisbon chips in.

"It was aimed at helping immigrants find employment, many of the staff themselves would have been people who have struggled to find a job."

"That was very good of him," Jane says.

"Yes," Hayes sighs, "it would have been a great achievement for him, he wondered if I would help fund it, a 50/50 approach if you get my drift."

"And with him gone, you stand to inherit the whole business," Jane states.

"Are you implying that _I_ killed him, are you mad?" Hayes retaliates.

"I was simply saying that you have motive," Jane replies, innocently.

"No, I would never do such a thing, besides the business would crumble without him, he was the main benefactor. It was only in its early stages, with him gone, the business won't even get off the ground."

"Did he say anything about the recent murder of Marie Harrison?" Lisbon interrupts.

"Yes," he nods, "he was here yesterday, and before he left, he told me that he was going to see a friend about it. In fact, now you mention it, he acted a bit strange then. He spoke really loudly, as if he wanted someone to overhear."

"What time was this?"

"Around ten thirty," he pauses, "yes, definitely ten thirty." Then, he glances at the door, "is that everything, Agent, I have a meeting about this business."

"That'll be all for now, Mr Hayes," she replies, looking at her watch, "if you think of anything else, please call us."

"I will Miss Lisbon," he replies.

"Thanks again," Jane adds, then the pair stand to leave.

When they are out of earshot of Hayes, Jane whispers "you think the wire has something to do with the business?"

"Maybe," she replies.

As soon as they reach the front of the property, Lisbon asks "so, did he do it?"

"Huh? Am I like a trick pony to you?" he jokes.

"Yes, so, did he get your _spidey senses _tingling?"

"No, no, he was very open with us, not the killer type, besides, he has no motive."

"Yeah, maybe he hasn't told us everything, beside, why would he infiltrate his own business?"

"Fair point, so where are we off to now boss?" he smiles playfully.

"Back to the precinct," Lisbon replies.


	5. Chapter 5 - Overflow

**Chapter 5.**

Jane heads straight for his sofa when he and Lisbon return to the precinct, whilst Lisbon catches up with Van Pelt, who is the only one in the bullpen.

"Hi boss," she greets Lisbon, "there's good news and bad news. Which would you like first?"

"Let's go with the good news," Lisbon replies.

"Okay, well, Cho has been through his financials and found $5000 deposits in one of his separate accounts, but they're all cash, so there is no money trail," Van Pelt informs her.

"Okay, well, we have another line of enquiry, Walter was setting up a new business," Lisbon replies, walking away whilst trying to keep her hopes up.

"Wait boss, I didn't tell you the bad news," Van Pelt tells her, making Lisbon stop dead in her tracks.

"I thought that…" her voice trails off.

"No, the bug that was on Mashburn's body was too damaged to get a signal from it."

"Right," Lisbon sighs, "how much is in this account?"

"Around a quarter of a million dollars," Van Pelt glances at the screen.

"That'd be a nice amount to start a business," Jane comments from his spot on the sofa.

"Great, so no leads?" Lisbon is getting impatient.

Grace shakes her head.

"Where are the others?" Jane enquires.

"They went to the cri… your apartment," Van Pelt quickly corrects herself.

_Thanks for reminding me_, Lisbon mutters internally.

"Lisbon?" Jane asks, "Can I have a word with you in your office?"

"Sure," she replies.

He leads her into her office and quickly shuts the door behind them.

"You're stressed," he states.

"Thanks Sherlock, we never would have solved the case without you," she sarcastically remarks.

"I'm flattered; you think that I'm as good as the mighty Sherlock Holmes?" He beams.

"Jane, get to the point," she replies impatiently.

"You're getting really worked up, maybe you should take a break," he suggests.

"Yeah, like that'll work. Jane, I can't just stop, Mashburn is dead, I nearly died and you making fun really isn't helping," it all just comes out, leaving her with a little less weight on her shoulders.

"Okay, hey," he notices tears forming in her eyes, and pulls her close, "we'll get to the bottom of it, we just need to give it time."

Automatically, she wraps her arms around him and they embrace, "it'll all work itself out, you'll see."

"If you try and hypnotise me again, I'm gonna hide your pain killers," she playfully threatens him.

"Deal," he smiles, before he gets a sniff of Lisbon's shampoo, and then he pulls away, knowing that he's stepping over the line.

"That reminds me, it's time for my next dose."

Lisbon lets go, she feels a little calmer and more composed than before, _damn him and his mind tricks,_ she mentally curses.

Before he leaves, he slouches over a little and looks deep into her eyes, "everything will be fine," he tells her.

"Jane," she confidently returns his gaze, "where are your pills?"

"Fine," he holds up his good arm, "I'm going."

Before he reaches the door, he pulls the bottle from his pocket and smirks, "oh, here they are!"

As he leaves, she smiles to herself. _God, I love that man_, her face falls, does she really think that? The thought has crossed her mind a few times before… but she has never said it in her mind. _Damn, he's having an effect on me,_ she knows that co-workers in the CBI cannot be in relationships, the fiasco with Grace and Wayne proved that. There is no way that the CBI could solve as many cases without Jane, he's their own Sherlock, besides, the guy has still not come to terms with his wife and daughter's death, and with Red John still out there. _No Teresa, he's off limits, you should know better, _she mentally scolds herself, _get back to work_.

"It's hard to believe that Jane ran in here," Cho comments, looking around the now charred room.

"And that Lisbon got out alive," Rigsby adds, "found anything yet?"

"No, so what's your take on this bug?" Cho asks him, picking up what was a magazine and examining it.

"That, with the deposits," he pauses to think, "maybe he was paid to get information."

"But if they paid him to keep him quiet, why did they kill him and in such a brutal way?"

"We'll soon find out," Wayne replies, "forensics are doing their best to get through all the debris."

"With your experience in the arson squad, what would you make of this?"

Rigsby has a good look around, lifting up burnt objects and then delicately placing them back down.

"They wanted to destroy evidence, that's why they set the place on fire," he makes his way to the bedroom door, "they didn't expect Lisbon, that's why they didn't kill her, they just locked her in there," he points into the room, which is significantly less disturbed by the fire than the rest of the house, "they slit his throat, they wanted to make him suffer. Maybe he knew too much and they wanted to minimise collateral damage," he concludes.

Cho almost smiles, "you sounded just like Jane then," he told his partner.

"Oh, was it that bad?" he smiles.

Cho replies with an emotionless laugh.

"Hey, look at this," Rigsby heads for the front door, which is hanging onto the frame by a single hinge, "they locked the door behind them."

The frame has a large piece missing where the latch bold had ripped through it.

"It took a lot of force to do that," Cho looks at Rigsby, "no wonder Jane broke something."

"You think Mashburn was crooked?" Rigsby reluctantly asks.

"I hope not, for Lisbon's sake," he replies.

Late morning soon becomes late afternoon, the time passes slowly, Van Pelt is working on the timeline, from when he left Hayes's house to when he arrived at Lisbon's apartment. Jane is just being himself.

"Ahhh, that's much better," he sighs, sinking into his sofa with a cup of herbal tea in hand.

Van Pelt smiles to herself, "you never told me what that feeling of yours was," she tells him.

"Oh, that, well…" he draws it out, trying to remember what he told Lisbon before, "it's like déjà vu."

"I didn't think that you believed in déjà vu," Van Pelt replies.

"Well, there are many theories about it, it's just a simple trick of the mind," he tells her, before taking a sip of his tea.

"So, even brilliant minds like yours can be influenced?" she turns to face him.

"You think I have a brilliant mind?" is his heartfelt reply.

"Please don't flatter him more," Lisbon tells Van Pelt from across the room, "his ego is big enough as it is."

"She called me 'Sherlock' before," Jane chuckles.

"Yeah, well I'm regretting it now," Lisbon counters.

He laughs and then settles back into the cushions.

"How's it going Grace?" Teresa asks her.

"Well, he visited a petrol station at 10.47pm, but after that, there is no trace of him until he visits you," Van Pelt begins to type, "I'll try to get some of the CCTV footage from around there, see if I can figure out where he went."

"Great," Lisbon tries to sound enthusiastic, but she is so tired, it's difficult to keep her eyes open.

"Lisbon?"

When she finally manages to open her eyes, Jane is standing in front of her.

"Huh?" she mumbles.

"C'mon, you're coming home with me." he tells her.

"Okay," it would be pointless trying to argue with him, "just let me get my stuff…" still in a daze she retreats to her office, Jane in tow.

"Err… Lisbon," Jane doesn't want to point out that her possessions were destroyed in the fire.

The realisation hits her like a brick wall, her eyes begin to sting with tears, but she calms herself before they begin to tumble down her cheeks.

"You're exhausted," he tells her comfortingly, "you need a good meal and a drink, I'll get someone to take us to my place okay."

"Yeah," she yawns.

The sun is beginning to set over the horizon, making the city's tower like buildings cast vast shadows on the street below, the sky fades from light blue to red… blood red. Patrick stares out of the window watching the city at night, Lisbon has fallen asleep beside him and every few minutes, he glances over to check on her. It's only 9 o'clock, but they are exhausted, he can't wait to get home and have a cold one, a rare treat. Luckily, he had stocked his cupboards before the fire, so they would have plenty to eat and drink. A bump in the road makes Lisbon shift over and lean against Jane's uninjured shoulder, he doesn't move in case she moves. The officer who is driving looks in the rear view mirror, he doesn't say anything, and then continues to watch the road in front of him.


	6. Chapter 6 - Hungry For Answers

**Chapter 6.**

When Lisbon wakes up the next morning, she finds herself in Jane's front room. The events of last night are a little blurry to her, which slightly worries her. She removes the blanket that was draped over her and finds a note on the coffee table in front of the sofa. On it is a very scruffy version of Jane's handwriting, she reads it aloud.

"Help yourself to anything in the fridge, if it…" she struggles to read the next few words, "yesterday, it will take me a while to get up." She smiles at his humour, places the not back on the table and makes her way to the kitchen. She isn't very hungry, but if she doesn't eat now, and odds are she won't eat at lunch either, it'll be late before she manages to finally get something to quieten her stomach. She puts two slices of bread in the toaster and puts the kettle on; the least she could do is make a cup of tea for her host.

"Lisbon!"

_Speak of the devil,_ she rolls her eyes.

"If you're up, could you come and give me a hand…" then there's a pause, "and if you're not, could you still come and help me anyway?"

"Coming," she replies.

She finds him sitting on the edge of his bed, his bad arm resting on his knee with his shirt hanging off his back, his gives her his best attempt at puppy eyes.

"Yes?"

"Could you help me get my shirt off please?"

A dirty thought pops into Lisbon's head, but she quickly dismisses it, "sure," she replies.

He stands and turns around so she can easily pry the dirty shirt off his good arm first, then he turns sideways, so she can easily and gently remove the shirt. As it slides off, she sees the bruising that has appeared on his shoulder, the once peachy coloured skin is now a mixture of blue, dark brown and purple.

"What is it?" he asks.

"Nothing, so which shirt are you going to choose today?" she asks, opening the wardrobe in the corner of the room.

"Well, it's either blue, white or blue with white. Tell you what, you choose," he smiles, "you have a good sense in style."

"Really?" she can tell that he is joking.

"Seriously, you look good in all your clothes."

"This one," she pulls the blue and white one off its hangar and holds it up for his approval.

"Mmmm," he pulls a face, "I'm not sure."

"Oh stop it," she retaliates, and motions for him to turn around.

"You're the boss," he replies.

It easily slides on his injured side and as she reaches around to put his other arm in, her fingers brush his good shoulder, lightly scratching his skin.

"Sorry," she immediately apologises.

"No, it's fine…" he replies, turning to face her.

They pause for what seems like millennia, just waiting for the others next move.

"Waistcoat?" he asks.

"Yeah, sure," she snaps out of it and goes to find a light grey waistcoat among his collection.

Whilst she fishes around in the wardrobe, he pays little attention to doing up the buttons and watches her. _She didn't mean it, _he tells himself, _it was an accident. _But the fact is that her touch had sent a jolt of electricity up his spine, something that he had never experienced before. Before she turns around, he makes a valid effort to do as many buttons as he can; the detective in her would be able to tell that he had been watching her, he manages to do them all up…but in the wrong holes. Lisbon fixes them before putting on his waistcoat, and before he can make a mess of it again, she does up the metal buttons on it.

"Tea?" she asks him.

"Yes please," he replies, his mouth is suspiciously dry.

"I'll leave you to put your own trousers on, if you don't mind," she tells him.

"Fine by me," he responds, figuring out an easy way to do it.

When she returns to the kitchen, her toast is going cold and the kettle has boiled. _If he is going to spend the rest of the day like this, _she tells herself, _it's going to be a long day._

After having breakfast and asking one of the officers to pick them up, they finally make it to the precinct.

"I told you I was fine," Jane sighs, "you even offered to let me do it by myself."

"Yeah, but that was before I found you sat on the floor, weaving them up with one arm," Teresa counters, "You'd be lost without me."

"What's going on?" Rigsby asks as he joins them from the break room, croissant in hand.

"Lisbon had to help me get dressed this morning."

Rigsby smirks and is elbowed by Lisbon, "not funny," she tells him.

"What's not funny?" Cho interjects.

"The boss had to help Jane get dressed this morning," Rigsby informs him.

Cho actually smiles, "that'd be a video that I'd want to see."

"Oh great, should we just tell the whole world?" Jane asks them sarcastically.

"Sure, if you want us to," Rigsby smugly remarks.

"Calm down, you two," Lisbon tries to settle them down before Jane gets even more embarrassed. The four of them enter the bullpen, Rigsby and Cho still trying to get more details out of Jane about what happened earlier this morning. Van Pelt is sat at her desk, which is a welcome distraction from the embarrassing situation Jane has found himself in.

"Grace, thank god," he greets her, trying to get the subject off of him, "did you manage to fill in some of the timeline?"

"I managed to find out where he went until 11.05pm, then he disappears for 10 minutes before he appears at Lisbon's," she informs him, "so, what's this about Lisbon having to help you get dressed this morning?"

"It was nothing," he tells her adamantly.

"Hey Lisbon," Rigsby whispers to her and pulls her aside.

"Yeah?"

"By any chance, you haven't got a photo from this morning, have you?"

"No of course not, that'd be humiliating and cruel," she replies, "Anyway, I don't have my phone. Because if I did, there would be a whole photo album," she smiles wickedly.

He gives her the same smile back and then realisation hits him.

"Your bedroom wasn't as damaged as the rest of your apartment, there may be things that you can salvage," he tells her.

"Jane, you want to escape the taunts?" she asks him

"Gladly," he replies, his faced getting redder by the second.

"Can you drive us there, Rigsby? That reminds me, I can pick up my car if the spare keys in my bedside table haven't melted."

"On it boss," he replies, before fetching his keys from his desk.

Having not seen the apartment since the fire, Teresa is anxious at what she will find, the photo albums containing precious memories of her and her mother together, some of her brothers before the conflict between them, even some of her younger self with her father she cherishes. She has no copies of them, if they're gone, she doesn't know what she would do. Jane can see her internal turmoil and briefly rests his hand on her shoulder to reassure her; luckily Rigsby is none the wiser and doesn't acknowledge their brief moment of contact. He hopes that his compassion will help her, with her riding shotgun, it is all he can do for now. The journey is short, which helps Lisbon by not prolonging the wait, and only a few officers stay to protect the crime scene from nosey neighbours. Teresa heads straight up to the apartment whilst Jane and Rigsby follow, hanging back a little so that she can have some space. The damage is horrifying to see, but to their surprise as much as hers, she does not break down, she simply stands in the doorway and assesses the damage. After a minute, she goes in, the place still stinks of smoke and burnt flesh, neither are pleasant nor unfamiliar to her, but she bravely carries on and heads straight to the bedroom. Rigsby was right; some of the furniture at the far end of the room is pretty much untouched, and the bottom drawer is where she keeps the photo albums. She finds her phone halfway underneath her bed and turns it on. She has a few missed calls and text messages, but none of them are important at the moment. The albums are untouched in their drawer and spare car keys remain in the back a drawer in her bedside table. Some of her clothes smell of smoke but, like the albums, were untouched by the blaze, so she finds her gym bag an packs as much as she can. When she's finished, she re-joins Patrick and Wayne in the lounge, where they are both examining the destroyed door frame.

"Hey Lisbon, look at this," he beams, pointing at the frame.

"I'm not surprised that you have so much damage to your shoulder," she comments, a little amazed at how much damage he had done, "I've got my keys Rigsby, so Jane and I will follow you back." She turns to Jane, who is still gawking at the damage, "c'mon Superman, let's get back."

With Jane finally in tow, they walk in single file back down to the car park, Jane's very quiet as he wanders down the stairs. Wayne heads straight for his car whilst Lisbon finds her car in amongst the rest.

He stops dead in his tracks as Lisbon approaches the driver's door. _The door was locked from the outside…they have the keys to her car…_

"LISBON WAIT!" He shouts at her.

But it's too late, as she opens the door. There is a small beep, then the car explodes, sending a mushroom cloud of fire up into the sky, the force of the explosion knock Lisbon back several feet and she lies motionless on the ground.

"LISBON!" Jane's cries are masked by the crackle of fire.


	7. Chapter 7 - Emergency

**Chapter 7.**

Everything is a blur, there are red and blue lights flashing in the distance and sirens are crying. Smoke billows from the fire behind Lisbon, who is lying halfway between Jane and the car. He's frozen, everything happened so quickly that he can't remember what happened. Snapping into action, he runs towards her, ignoring the pain in his shoulder, tears stream down his cheeks, images without her flash in and out of his mind, the physical agony he is in is nothing compared to life without her. When he reaches her, he kneels down beside her, hoping for any sign that she is still alive.

"Lisbon? Can you hear me?"

He doesn't get an answer, panic surges through him.

"Lisbon, please," he sobs, taking hold of her hand and squeezing it, "don't leave me please." Flashbacks of what happened _that night _float back to him, the image of the red smiley face painted in his wife's blood, that same feeling of dread pulsates through his body.

Rigsby suddenly appears beside him, takes her hand other hand and tries to find the pulse in her wrist. He looks up from her hand and faces Jane, "she's alive, but her pulse is very weak."

His words help Jane focus, _she's not gone, _he tells himself, _pull yourself together! _

Two paramedics appear from the entrance of the car park, along with Van Pelt and Cho. The two agents sprint past the jogging paramedics and join Rigsby and Jane.

"What happened?" Cho asks.

"She…" Jane pauses to wipe the tears away, "the car was booby trapped, the killers… they took Lisbon's keys and wired the explosive to go off when the door was opened."

"The fire department are on their way," Van Pelt tells them.

Rigsby's phone begins to ring; he leaves them for a moment to take it.

The medics join them seconds later, setting down their equipment.

"Move aside please," the older man says, placing the stretcher beside her body.

Cho, Rigsby and Van Pelt move aside, but Jane doesn't move, he doesn't want to let go, he never wants to let go.

"Sir, please," the other paramedic tells him.

Jane leans forward and whispers something in Lisbon's ear, and then moves back to let the paramedics get to work. The paramedics put Lisbon on the stretcher and take her back to the waiting ambulance. As soon as she is in, fire engines rush into the car park and fire fighters jump out, ready to tackle the blaze.

"Cho, just got the call from Bertram, you're working point on this," Rigsby rejoins them.

Discretely, he reaches for Grace's hand and gently squeezes it. Cho turns to Jane, "you need to tell us exactly what happened."

"I was over by my car," Rigsby interjects, knowing that Jane is still in shock, "I heard Jane shout, then there was an explosion."

"I should have stopped her," Jane mumbles to himself.

"It's not your fault, Jane, okay," Cho tells him, then he addresses them all, "it's no-one's fault."

"The best thing that we can do now is find who did this," Van Pelt adds.

"I'll get forensics on the car as soon as the fire's out," Cho tells them, "meanwhile…" he trails off as Jane runs off to follow Lisbon.

"Rigsby, go with him, you two go to the hospital," Kimble decides, "Grace and I will stay here."

Wayne lets go of Grace's hand and sprints to catch up with Jane.

"So, what are we going to do?" Van Pelt asks Kimble.

"We're going to go back to the precinct," he tells her, "and we are going to fill in that timeline."

Rigsby and Jane follow the ambulance in Wayne's car, the journey seems to take forever, every turn feels miles away from the next, every second passing like an eon. Patrick's heart sinks lower than ever before, _I could have stopped her, _the words circle around his mind.

"Hey," Wayne breaks the awkward silence, "she's gonna be okay, she's got through worse than this."

Jane can't bring himself to answer, but just continues to focus on the ambulance in front of them. Both the ambulance and the car have their lights and sirens flashing on and off, making the city's traffic part like the Red Sea as they speed down the main streets.

Back at the precinct, Van Pelt manages to fill in several more minutes of Walter's night. He had gone down a few backstreet roads on the outskirts of Sacramento, from what she can tell from the CCTV, and then he disappears.

"Hey, Grace!" Cho shouts from his desk, "Forensics have got something for us."

She races to join him at his desk, butterflies starting to make themselves home in her stomach.

"They've found a metal tag in Lisbon's car, one that wasn't part of the explosive device," he informs her, showing the photograph on his computer screen.

"Is that a military dog tag?"

"No, it's smaller, the size of a quarter and there's some writing on it. They're working on it now."

"I might have something too," she replies, "I've been tracking Walter's whereabouts from last night. The roads that he was travelling on have few side roads coming off; he must have headed down one of those to whoever he was meeting. And it can't be that far, because he only had about 8 minutes between getting there and then back to Lisbon's by 11.15."

"So we are looking for something within a 4 minute radius down these side roads, great work Van Pelt, I'll get a team together," Cho reaches for the desk phone, whilst Grace retrieves her firearm from her desk drawer.

_We're catching up with you, you sons of bitches,_ Cho smiles to himself, he knows they are.

When Rigsby and Jane make it into the hospital, after finally finding a parking space in the already packed car park, they head straight for the ER department and after asking several members of staff, find one of the doctors who is treating Lisbon.

"How is she?" is Jane's first question.

"Are you her husband?" Doctor Harper replies.

"No, we're her colleagues," Wayne interrupts, "I'm Agent Rigsby, "he shows her his badge, "and this is Patrick Jane, one of our consultants. We were there when it happened."

"Follow me," she leads them into one of the empty visitor rooms, and then closes the door behind them for privacy; "she has gone straight into surgery."

Jane immediately turns away, trying not to let them see him cry.

"She has suffered serious injuries, the head wound alone should have killed her, but something is keeping her heart beating," she tries to give them hope, "she's strong, that gives her a good chance of recovering. Her other injuries are less serious, if she can get through the next 24 hours, she'll be okay."

"Thank you, doctor," Rigsby answers.

"I'll leave you two alone," she replies, and then makes a quick exit.

"Jane, she's going to be okay," Wayne reassures him, "look…"

They are interrupted by Rigsby's phone going off, he pulls it out his pocket and answers it.

"Hey Cho, what is it?" he asks, "…really?… that's great…uh huh… uh huh….yep…okay, thanks."

"What?" Jane turns around, tears forming in his eyes.

"They've got a lead, something about side roads and a small area to search," he informs Patrick.

"You should go and help them," Jane prompts him into leaving.

"Nope, I'm staying here with you," he replies.

The search into the first, second, third and fourth side roads end up fruitless, only farms and ranches were scattered down those mud tracks. But a few minutes up the road, off the beaten track, down a long meandering potholed road, is a dilapidated house. The white paint on the outside is peeling and the blue window shutters hang on by a single hinge. Behind the main house, hidden by


	8. Chapter 8 -Survival

**Chapter 8.**

It is 4.30 in the afternoon when Lisbon comes out of surgery and is taken to one of the recovery rooms. Jane has fallen asleep on one of the chairs in the waiting room, his head leaning on the glass panel behind him; Rigsby is sat next to him, but he cannot rest, he just wants to hear some news…good news about his boss. He loves the banter they exchange, he is still thankful to her when she remained quiet about his relationship with Grace, she's also saved his life, several times; all duties that he cannot repay her if she doesn't get through this. Doctor Harper enters the room so quietly that Rigsby doesn't immediately see her; she waits for Jane to wake from his slumber before bringing them some news.

"Agent Rigsby, Mr Jane," she addresses them, "Teresa has come out of surgery, there were a few complications, but she's come through okay."

Both men breathe a big sigh of relief.

"She's not out of the woods yet," the doctor continues, "but the surgery went well, so it's best that you keep your hopes up."

"Thank you doctor," Rigsby smiles.

"When can we see her?" Jane asks, his voice a little raspy from not speaking in a while.

"The nurses are making her comfortable, so within the next half hour I expect," Harper replies.

"Thank you," Jane forces a smile on his face, _not out of the woods… _

"I'll leave you two alone," she tells them, and then retreats to attend to her other patients.

Rigsby's phone once again begins to ring, and he goes outside to take it. Jane's heart begins to rise with hope; he can't wait to see her, to hold her hand and tell her that everything is going to be okay. Just being able to tell her that truthfully gives him hope that she'll be as right as rain in no time.

"Hey, Jane," Rigsby re-joins him in the waiting room, "I've just got a call from Cho, they've found a property on the main road, it could be the place that Mashburn went to the other night."

The news hardly interests Jane, all he focuses on now is seeing Lisbon.

"Okay," Wayne knows that he really isn't paying attention, "well, there was someone there, but he isn't talking, so they're taking back for interrogation."

"Who is he?" Jane asks, snapping out of his thoughts.

"No idea, Cho didn't really say, he was just going in to interrogate him when he called."

Antonio 'Toni' Castelli slouches in his chair, behind the metal desk, his head and body sway from side to side, like he has a song's melody stuck in his head. His hands are knotted together on the table, tattoos of crucifixes and rosemary beads cover his fingers, which are worn from years of hard labour, though he is only in his late teens. He snaps to attention when Cho enters the room.

"Hey man," he immediately says in a strong Italian accent, "I here legally, y'know. I don't know why I'm here!"

"Mr Castelli, have you ever heard of Walter Mashburn?" Cho gets straight down to business.

"No, why?"

"Ever seen this man before?" He slides a photo of Walter across the table.

"Hey, wait a minute, yeah," Toni taps his finger on the photo, "but he said that his name was Brian, not Walter."

"When did you see him?"

"About two nights ago," he replies, "he came to the house to see my brother, Dani."

"Your brother? Why?"

"I dunno, they went into another room, he was very nervous when he left, and kept tugging at his jacket, like this," he yanks at his lapel.

"Where is your brother now?"

"I dunno, he goes downtown sometimes, without me, calls me a liability."

"When will he be back?"

"Midnight I guess," he replies, "what has this man got to do with my brother?"

"He was killed the other night."

"Oh man, that's awful, he was such a nice guy."

"He spoke to you?"

"Just said hi to me, that's all," he replies nonchalantly.

Cho knows it's a long shot, but he puts a photo of Marie Harrison on the table.

"You recognise her?"

"Yeah, a few weeks back, she confronted my brother and his friend, Piero; she was giving them hell, saying that they needed to keep out of her patch. I have no idea what they were talking about," Toni replies.

"Piero Franco?"

"Uh huh," Castelli nods, "best friends they were."

"Thank you Antonio," Cho tells him.

"Please, call me Toni."

Cho can hardly wait to tell Van Pelt, things are now slotting into place, why Mashburn wore a bug and how he got it, but one question still remained, how did Toni's brother get into contact with Walter? They ran in completely different circles.

"How'd it go?" Grace asks from across the room.

"Can you put an APB out for a Dani Castelli?"

"Sure, why?"

"He's the one who bugged Mashburn, and he was in contact with Marie Harrison before she died."

"On it," Grace begins to type furiously.

"I'm going to let Antonio go, if his brother knows that he's spoken to us, he might try to flee."

"Agent Rigsby, Mr Jane," doctor Harper pokes her head around the door, "you can see her now."

Both men stand, but before they leave the room, Wayne stops.

"Are you coming?" Jane asks, eager to leave the small confines of the room.

"Patrick, I'm going to speak frankly with you," he tells Jane.

"This doesn't sound good."

"Tell her."

"Tell her what?"

"Don't play dumb with me."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Tell Lisbon how you feel. This…" he pauses to clear his throat, "it may be your last chance to tell her, if she doesn't make it."

"She'll make it, everything will be fine," Jane doesn't understand why he is acting like this.

"Jane, I wish that I'd told Grace sooner, you need to tell Lisbon."

"But the rules…"

"Screw the rules, the heart wants what the heart wants," Rigsby smiles, "besides, when have you ever cared about rules?"

"But Lisbon does, I don't want to jeopardise our working relationship," Jane cannot believe that he is talking to someone about this; it feels like a therapy session, "she can't hear me."

"Want to know what I think?"

_No,_ Jane replies in his head.

"Whatever you whispered to her before is what is keeping her alive. I can't tell her for you, now you go in there and tell her!"

Jane is astounded by how blunt Rigsby is, and how supportive he is being.

"You won't say anything?"

Wayne runs two fingers along his lips like his is pulling a zip across, "my lips are sealed, now go," he smiles.

Rigsby's confidence puts wind in his sail as he strides out onto the corridor. Doctor Harper is standing outside a room a few doors down, and beckons him towards her. With a nod she lets him past and into the dim lit room. As soon as he enters the room, he sees the bed, hears the orchestra of beeps and the steady beat of the ventilator. And then he turns his attention to his partner. One wrist is encased in a plaster cast, and is held close to her body by a sling. Her head is clad with several meters of bandages, with what looks like a giant red ink stain on her right temple. Wires and tubes snake around her like jungle vines, that all connect to the several machines surrounding her. As quietly as he can, he pulls the lightweight chair to her bedside and takes her uncast hand in his.

"Lisbon," his voice is low, "if you can hear me, please just squeeze my hand."

He waits, but nothing happens.

_This is silly, _he thinks, _but talking to your deceased wife and daughter in your dreams is also silly, so…what the hell._

"Screw the rules," he smiles, "Lisbon, I've got two things to tell you, the first is that this chair is nowhere near as comfy as my sofa back in the bullpen," he pauses, expecting her to laugh at his dry humour, "and secondly, I want you to know that I meant what I said to you before. I know that I can be a pain in the ass sometimes, and that you would rather not have me around ninety per-cent of the time, but you've got to keep on fighting. I'm not going anywhere, I promise you that, and I promise to be there for you, always, whenever you need a shoulder to cry on or someone to speak to after a difficult case, I'll be there."


	9. Chapter 9 - Listen

**Chapter 9.**

Rigsby peeps through the small gap in the blinds to see Jane beside Lisbon's bed, his hand clasped around Lisbon's. He knows that he's told her; _the heart wants what the heart wants, _he smile to himself. Once again, his phone begins to ring, this time, it's Grace.

"Hey, how's everything?" she asks.

"Jane's with Lisbon now, if she can get through the next 24 hours, they're hopeful that she'll make a full recovery," he answers, "how did the interview with the suspect go?"  
"We've got a name, Dani Castelli, apparently, Walter was in contact with him. There's an APB out for him, no luck yet, but patience is a virtue," Rigsby can tell that she anxiously pacing up and down.

_Should I take my own advice? _he asks himself.

"Wayne, are you still there?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm still here. Did he say what they were into together?"

"No, just that it was Dani who gave him the bug, and that he saw his brother and Piero Marco fight with Marie Harrison before she died."

"Drugs," is Rigsby's immediate reaction.

"Could be, we're gonna get a team over to search the property where we found Castelli tomorrow, it's getting late," Van Pelt replies and then she lowers her voice, "how's Jane holding up?"

"Okay, well it's hard to tell with him," Rigsby sighs, "do you want me to come back and help with anything?"

"You stay with Jane, he needs someone around him, y'know," Van Pelt responds, "we'll see you soon okay?"

"Yeah, see you soon," the temptation to add _love you _onto that sentence is inviting to Rigsby, but he doesn't say anything more and he ends the call.

"How's Lisbon?" Cho asks as he passes by Van Pelt's desk.

"The next 24 hours are crucial, but after that, they expect her to make a full recovery," she replies, "nothing yet on Dani Castelli."

"He'll appear sooner or later," Cho tells her, "meanwhile, you go home, we both need a rest after all that has happened today."

"I don't think I could sleep, poor Jane, I mean, it's kinda obvious isn't it?"

"Sure, as obvious as you and Risby were," Cho counters.

"Really?" she feels herself smiling, "Were we that obvious?"

Kimble raises his eyebrows.

Suddenly, Lisbon's desk phone begins to ring. Cho and Van Pelt stare at each other, before Cho goes into her office to answer it.

"Agent Lisbon?" the man on the other end of the line asks.

"No, this is Agent Cho; Lisbon is unavailable at the moment, who is this please?"

"This is Bernard Hayes, I spoke to Agent Lisbon yesterday about Walter Mashburn," he continues.

"Yes Mr Hayes, what can I do for you?"

"As you probably know, I was in business with him and, well, I wanted to commemorate his life, he has done a lot of great things, and they deserve to be celebrated."

"Indeed, Mr Hayes," Cho replies.

"I was wondering if Agent Lisbon and her colleagues would like to attend?"

"That is a very generous offer Mr Hayes," Cho tells him, "can I get back to you on that?"

"Of course," he replies, "this event will take place at my house tomorrow, commencing at 8pm, it would be wonderful if you could all make it."

"Certainly Sir."

"Goodbye Agent Cho," Bernard finishes and then puts the phone down.

"Who was that?" He didn't notice Van Pelt standing in the doorway.

"Bernard Hayes, he's invited us to a memorial party for Walter."

That night, Jane stays by Lisbon's bedside, whilst Cho, Van Pelt and Rigsby all return home to get a good night's sleep. He refuses to leave until she opens her eyes, until he hears her voice…he's tired, his shoulder hurts like hell and his best friend is fighting for her life. His head lolls backwards as his body gives into sleep.

"Dad," Charlotte wakes him up, "dad!" she shakes him by the shoulder and playfully laughs at him.

"Not now Charlotte, daddy's trying to sleep," he murmurs, shifting slightly to get comfier.

"Dad, I'm not three anymore," she smiles.

"No, of course you're not," he sadly replies, turning to face her, "you're my grown up girl."

"Is this Teresa?" she asks.

"Yeah, this is Lisbon; she's helping me find Red John."

"Dad, forget about Red John for now, you need to find whoever did this to her, and sitting here isn't going to help."

"I can't leave her," he tells her honestly.

"You can," Charlotte replies, "you just need to listen."

"Listen? Listen to what?"

"You know what I mean," the teenager grins, "listen and you will find the killer."

"How did you get so wise?"

"Like father, like daughter, now stop wasting time and listen," she backs out of the room, repeating "listen" over and over.

Jane wakes up to see Rigsby on the other side of Lisbon's bed.

"Oh, sorry, didn't mean to wake you," he apologises.

"No," his voice is raspy, "no you didn't."

"You remember Bernard Hayes?"

"Yeah, is he connected to the murder?" Jane hopes that some more evidence has arisen.

"Not sure yet, but," he pauses for effect, "he's invited us to his house this evening to remember Walter. A wake before the funeral I think is the best way to describe it. Guilt maybe?"

"Ah, but he has no motive to kill Mashburn," Jane replies, sitting up.

"That means we are back to square one, "Wayne sighs, "again."

"_Listen…_" Jane mumbles to himself, "_listen and you'll find the killer._"

"Huh?"

"I have an idea," he smiles, "but we need to go back to the precinct first."

"Okay," Wayne replies, "if we leave now, we can avoid the morning rush hour."

"Sure, can you just give me a sec?"

"Yeah, I'll be outside."

As Rigsby makes his way out of the room, Jane picks up Lisbon's hand.

"I'll be back soon, I promise," he lightly squeezes it, and then follows Rigsby's lead.

When they arrive at the precinct, it is in disarray; officers are grabbing guns from their desks and calling to each other, like ancient warriors preparing for battle.

"Hey Cho," Rigsby calls, "what's going on?"

Cho slaloms his way through the crowd and leads the pair into the less packed break room.

"We're getting ready for a raid on the property, and as an added bonus, that APB paid off. Dani Castelli is now in interrogation," he smiles triumphantly.

"Great, but why the need for all the guns?" Jane pipes in.

"He's a member of a gang, if we go in unprepared, there would be carnage."

"I have a theory, but I need to speak to this Castelli first," Jane replies.

"I guess that you don't wish to share your theory with the group," Wayne says.

"No, because if I am wrong, then no one can say 'I told you so'," he smiles in reply, "please Cho, just one minute with him."

"Fine," Kimble tells him, "but, no hypnosis, no mind games, got it?"

"Loud and clear, _amigo_, or should I say_ amico_?"

"Just go before I regret my decision."

"On it."


	10. Chapter 10 - Interrogation

**Chapter 10.**

Dani Castelli has been waiting in interrogation for at least an hour, so when Jane enters the room, he leans back and watches him sit down with narrowed eyes.

"Hello, Mr Castelli, I'm Patrick Jane," he begins, "I need to ask you a few questions on Walter Masburn."

"Why? He has no business with me," Castelli replies.

"So, your brother was lying when Cho spoke to him yesterday?"

"What? Leave Toni out of this," Dani leans forward.

"Oh don't bother," Jane calmly tells him, "all I want to know is did you plant a bug on Walter Masburn?"

"I don't know this man," Castelli's anger begins to build.

"We both know that you're lying, so the question is did you plant a bug on him?"

"Why should I tell you?" He smirks.

"Because right now, my friend is in the hospital and I'm not in the mood to play games," Jane counters angrily, "so, did you plant a bug on Walter Mashburn?" He rises and leans over the table, getting into the personal space of the suspect.  
"Yes, but only because I was told to," he replies, rising his hands in surrender, "I had no idea what for though."

"Who told you to do this?"

"I don't know, I got a parcel in the mail with the bug inside, the letter said that if I planted a bug on him, then I would get $10,000 in cash, I swear. The instructions told me to put it on his coat; that was around eleven o'clock the two nights ago. After that, I got my money and that's all I cared about."

"How did you get in contact with him?"

"I heard about his business, the one where he helps immigrants, I have friends who need work, you know what it's like, so I get in touch with him…he meets me that night and we discuss work. Then he leaves, I liked the guy, why would I kill him?" He pauses to wipe sweat from his brow, "when I found out he was dead, I was sad. And your friend, I'm sorry to hear about that, but I have nothing to do with this I swear."

"Do you still have the letter?"

"No, I was told to burn it."

"When did you get this package?"

"A week after my friend Piero was arrested," Dani replies, sadness in his voice, "he is innocent, he would never hurt a fly."

There is a knock at the door, and Cho enters the room, file in hand. Silently, he places a photo of a small circular disc that is badly burned.

"Do you recognise this?" he asks.

Dani picks up the piece of photograph paper and then nods, "yes, my friend Piero had one that he wore around his neck. His girlfriend gave it to him before he came over here from Italy, a token of love. She has a matching one, well, that is what he told me. Where did you find this?" he looks up from the photo.

"I was found in our friend's car, before it was blown up," Jane replies.

"Do you know the name of his girlfriend?"

"No, I hope that she is not involved with this," he sighs, "they were really in love."

"Thank you for your time Mr Castelli, you can go," Cho tells him.

Castelli rises from his seat and makes his way over to the door, stopping before he opens it, "I hope that you find whoever hurt your friend."

"Wait," Jane orders him, "you said that you heard about this business in a shop. Was it on a poster?"

"No, this lady was telling me, ooh, you think that this lady is Piero's girl?"

"Exactly, can you describe her?"

"Sure, about 5ft 5", but she wore a hooded top, so I didn't get a good look at her face," he replies, "I'm sorry that I can't be more helpful."

"What you have told us is great, Dani," Patrick smiles to him.

Cho, Van Pelt, Jane and Rigsby sit at the conference table, open files are scattered over the table top and their beverages sit ready to be drunk beside them.

"Let's start with the timeline," Cho announces, "at ten thirty, Walter leaves Hayes's residence and stops off at a petrol station in the back streets."

"After that, he goes to meet Dani Castelli to talk business for about 10 to 15 minutes," Rigsby cuts in.

"Then to Lisbon's at 11.15pm," Van Pelt points out.

"He went to talk about the Harrison case, and the metal disc found in the car belongs to Franco's girlfriend, so she planted the bomb in the car, unless Franco has escaped," Cho adds, "our suspect is connected to Franco and the business that Mashburn and Hayes were going to set up, that's why she targeted Castelli."

"_Listen_," Jane whispers, and then realisation hits him, "is anyone going to that party tonight?"

They all look at him strangely.

"Why?" Rigsby asks.

"Just a hunch," he replies.

"Fine, we'll all go," Cho tells them, "you think that the killer will be there?"

"I know that she'll be there," Jane smiles smugly, "she used Walter to get information about her boyfriend. Toni Castelli said that he was tugging at his jacket, so he might have found the bug, so Franco's girlfriend had to kill him."

"Okay, so if she killed Mashburn, she didn't count on us tracing the Castelli's," Van Pelt replies, "Lisbon admitted that she arrested Franco, so…Jane?"

"She wanted Lisbon to suffer like she has been doing since the arrest," Jane concludes.

"But she didn't count on you turning up, so she had to improvise with the bomb," Rigsby cuts in, "bomb squad finally sent over the report for the device, it was sloppily made, this person made it in a hurry."

"But it had the desired effect, so this person knows how to make bombs," Cho points out.

"The Castelli's are a liability to her; won't she try to silence them too?" Grace asks.

"She tried, the officers found a bomb in their barn earlier this morning; they diffused it in time so no one was injured," Rigsby informs them, "luckily for them."

"We might have caught her on video, if we'd have known, none of this would have happened," Cho sighs.

"We'll get her tonight, luck is on our side, I can feel it," Jane tries to keep their hopes up.

Jane returns to the hospital to check on his partner, the 24 hours nearly up; he cannot help but be hopeful that she will be awake soon. Doctor Harper is standing outside the door, talking to one her colleagues, but sends him away when she spots him.

"Mr Jane," she greets him, "how's your arm?"

"Not too bad," he lies, regretting not taking his painkillers this morning, quickly changing the subject he asks "how is she?"

"Better, she's fighting back," she smiles, "she's breathing on her own now."

"Great, can I see her?"

"Sure," she reaches for her beeping pager, "I have to go, but I shall see you soon, Mr Jane."

"Thank you doctor," he replies.

The room seems a lot bigger now that several machines have been removed; the various tubes are gone, leaving Lisbon with a single catheter from a drip beside the bed and her broken wrist in a sling. _She'll be thrilled to know that we're matching, _Jane smiles to himself, looking down at his own arm. She stirs, adjusting her position on the pillow.

"Lisbon?" he asks softly.

She settles back down, not acknowledging him at all.

He stays with her all afternoon watching her sleep; colour is returning to her cheeks, and every so often, she moves, making Jane smile. He knows that she's going to make it, he cannot wait to see her emerald eyes gaze upon him once more.


	11. Chapter 11 - Beyond Love

**Chapter 11.**

The party is in full swing when the three agents and Jane arrive, many of the guests they recognise from the paper as California's wealthiest businessmen and women. At the door, they are greeted by Bernard Hayes himself, who formally greets each one of them.

"I'm so glad you could come," he smiles warmly at them, "where is Agent Lisbon?"

"She's unavailable," Cho answers, after a few seconds of silence.

"Aw, that is a shame," he moves aside, "please come in."

Kimble, Wayne and Patrick all wear suits with bow ties, Grace wears a beautiful black dress with a diamante flower on the single strap over her shoulder. She walks in, floating on what looks like black velvet, Rigsby tries not to stare, but it doesn't go unnoticed by Jane.

"Ask her for a dance," he whispers in the agent's ear.

Rigsby looks shocked by his suggestion, the words _the heart wants what the heart wants_ float into his mind.

"Damn you and your mind tricks," he replies with a low voice, before going over to Van Pelt and speaking to her.

At first, she looks shocked… and then nods, following him to the dance floor.

"What's got into him?" Cho asks, handing Jane a glass of water.

"No idea," Jane replies innocently, before taking a sip of the ice cool drink.

"Have you seen her yet?" Cho whispers.

"No, but I'll keep looking," he replies, heading off into the crowd.

The music is soft and romantic as Wayne and Grace make it to the floor. Some couples pirouette around them, others sway gently from side to side. Rigsby smiles as he gently takes her hand in hers, she wraps her arm around his waist, and they dance, taking steps in sync with one another in time to the music.

"Grace," he breathes, "you look beautiful tonight."

"You don't look too bad yourself," she smiles in reply.

"There's something that I want to tell you…" he smiles sheepishly.

"Go on," she encourages him.

"Well, I told Jane something and now I'm going to take my own advice," he takes a deep breath, "I want to be with you, no matter what our bosses say. I love you and I want to always be there for you."

"Wayne, we've been through this before…you know we can't," she tells him, tears forming in her eyes.

"I don't care," tears begin to sting his eyes, "and well…"

"Keep it up," Jane whispers in Rigsby's ear through his earpiece, interrupting his chain of thought.

There are a few taps on a microphone and the cluster of people turn towards the staging; on it is Bernard.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, it gives me great honour to welcome you here this evening," he smiles, "we are here tonight to remember a great man, Walter Mashburn."

Jane finds it easy to slip around the mansion unnoticed, there are so many alcoves to nip in when one of the members of staff walks past.

"Jane," Cho tries not to shout too loud, "Jane, where the hell are you?"

A hand extends from behind a pillar, "here!" Jane's voice loudly whispers.

Cho finds him leaning against the wall, "what are you doing?"

"Listening," he replies, "do you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"Do you have your earpiece in?"

"No," he plugs the opaque piece of plastic in his ear, and then he heard it, a flat whine, "it was working earlier."

"What causes interference like that?" he smiles.

"A receiver," Cho answers, "you know where it is?"

"Not yet, but give me a minute," he exits his little hiding place and slowly walks up the corridor, one finger holding the earpiece steady in his ear.

Cho follows, also listening carefully, the whining continues until everything goes back to normal when they turn the corner.

"That room," they both say in sync, Jane smiles whilst Cho just stares at him.

They retrace their steps, stopping at the room's single door. Cho pulls his firearm from its holster which is hidden underneath his jacket; Jane opens the door for him and waits until Cho goes in first. Flipping on the light, they find a vacant desk among tall bookcases filled with book keeping manuals. On top of the desk is a Macbook with a small USB hard drive plugged into it; sat beside it, there are several matching photo frames made from a dark wood. No one is there, so Cho puts away his piece and beckons Jane in.

"Where would she hide it?" Cho asks him.

Jane silently walks behind the desk and places one hand on the leather chair's backrest, his fingers drum as he thinks, and then he says "bottom drawer on the right side."

Cho joins him and pulls open the drawer; underneath a few cardboard files is a set of keys, along with a small black box, which Cho places on the desk.

"Those are Lisbon's," Jane tells him, recognising the set of keys that he once placed in a wooden box, her reaction to his little game was unexpected, as she took a hammer to the small puzzle box.

"Jane," Cho snaps him out of his revelry, "were you even listening?"

"Pardon?"

"I take that as a no then," Cho rolls his eyes, "I said take a look at the photos."

He turns his attention to the arrangement of photos on the desktop; many are of beautiful landscapes, but one is of Bella Castro alongside her boyfriend, Piero Franco, they're both smiling, looking straight at the camera.

"Look at their necks," Jane picks up the frame and shows it to Cho.

When he takes a closer look, he sees the small circular disc hanging on thin chains around their necks.

Cho pulls his phone from his pocket and texts Rigsby,_ gt evidence, find Bella Castro._

Bella runs out of the mansion to her car, she had parked it knowing that she would need a quick getaway. She's screwed up and now they are coming after her; she thought that her plan was fool proof, she'd been careful not to leave any evidence at the scene, but the bomb… as soon as she returned home she noticed that Piero's token of love was missing from around her neck. All she wanted was to find out why he was arrested, she knew that the CBI would tell her nothing, all she wanted was to know… sure, her way wasn't conventional, but the Castelli's got what they wanted and she just wanted information. He found the bug, so she had to make sure that it didn't trace back to her, so she slit his throat and burned him, the icing on the cake was killing the bitch who arrested him.

"But she just had to live didn't she," she sneers aloud, and that is when she planted the bomb.

A hoody, that's all she needed to conceal her identity; and that was it, job done.

As she ascends up the driveway, a gun goes off and her car fishtails, reflexively she slams on the breaks before colliding into one of the hedges that lines the brick drive.

"Step out of the vehicle with your hands on your head!" comes a shout from behind her.

"It's over," she tells herself, she opens the door, waving her hands in surrender before stepping out.

With Rigsby's gun still pointing at her, Van Pelt approaches her and wraps a pair of handcuffs tightly around her wrists.

"Hey, that hurts," Bella tells her.

"This is nothing compared to what you did to my boss," Grace retaliates through gritted teeth.


	12. Chapter 12 - Confessions

**Chapter 12.**

With Cho in the interrogation room, Bella tells him everything he needs to know; how she tried to find out what happened with her boyfriend, what lead her to killing Walter and bombing Lisbon's car; she breaks down into tears after confessing. Rigsby, Jane and Van Pelt watch silently from the other side of the mirror, observing her every move, listening to every word. Neither of them makes any comment about her, for the attempted murder of Lisbon, she'll be spending at least twenty years on top of a life sentence which will bring justice to Walter Mashburn. Having been in a similar situation before, Jane cannot help but wish that the sentence would be harsher; someone he loves was nearly killed because of her actions, if it was Red John sitting there, he would want the death penalty for what he did to his wife and little girl. Anger builds in him like a growing fire, her words act like kindling, fuelling the bonfire of hate. He clenches his fist, fingernails digging into the skin on his palm.

"Jane? Are you okay?" Van pelt asks, breaking the tense, uncomfortable silence.

"Yeah," he replies, her voice extinguishing some of the anger inside him.

He relaxes as pain begins to flare in his hand; knowing that he cannot listen to any more, he leaves Grace and Wayne alone in the room. His is on his way to the sofa, when his phone begins to ring; the ID tells him that it is from the hospital and immediately, he presses 'answer'.

"Mr Jane, it's Doctor Harper," says the voice on the other end of the line, "Lisbon's awake and she's asking for you."

Back in the observation room, Rigsby can hold it in no longer.

"Grace," he turns to her, "I need to tell you something."

"What?" his serious tone of voice worries her.

"I meant every word that I said before," he admits.

"What you said at Hayes's?"

"Yeah, and well…" he pauses before getting down on one knee, "I love you Grace van Pelt. I don't care about the rules, I just know that I don't want to spend another minute without you." He pulls a ring from his jacket pocket, "will you marry me?"

Jane managed to hail a taxi to the hospital, managing to catch one at that time of night was a miracle, even though he doesn't believe in them. He knows that Wayne will be popping the question to Van Pelt tonight; there was a certain glint in his eye and he's been checking his pocket way too often. _He did take his own advice, _Jane tells himself. He's happy for him, Wayne's been in love with Grace since the very start and they deserve to be happy, everyone deserves to be happy. His heart skips a beat every time that he thinks that Lisbon is waiting for him, the worry that she will never be there ever again evaporates from him. The taxi ride feels longer than it actually is, every second passes like a minute. Questions circle in his head: _will she remember what I told her before? How…what... what should I say to her?_

The hospital wards are very quiet, well, it is 10 past 1 in the morning. A few members of staff doze on their chairs behind the desk. As silently as he possibly can, he sneaks past, visiting hours are over, she wants to see him and he wants to see her, Doctor Harper is disobeying the rules to let them see one another. He smooths down his waistcoat and jacket before opening the door.

"Lisbon?" he whispers.

"Jane?" she croaks.

He races to her bedside, a huge grin plastered all over his face. Lisbon clears her throat before saying, "I've missed you."

"I've missed you too," tears begin to sting his eyes.

"Don't cry," she tells him, "please don't or you'll set me off."

He laughs quietly, "how're you feeling?"

"Not too bad," she replies, "how's the case?"

"Closed," he breaks the news, "we got her."

"Her?"

"There's a lot to tell you, but it can wake until morning."

"Like hell it will, come on, spill the beans."

"Lisbon, you need to rest."

"Jane, I've been asleep for over a day, I can hang on another hour whilst you tell me everything."

"Nuh-huh, you've got to get some sleep," he tells her softly.

"Fine, if you're not going to tell me anything about the case, then answer me this," she pauses, trying to remember the exact words, "what did you whisper in my ear?"

It is the worst question that she could have asked him, but he tries to play dumb.

"When?"

"After the bomb went off, what did you say?"

It is like he is in the interrogation room; Teresa won't back down, it's just her nature. He takes in a deep breath, "I said…" his heat sinks with shame as he cannot bring himself to tell her the truth, no matter how persistent she is, "…I told you to hold on."

"Liar."

"Huh?"

"It's my job to tell when people are lying, Jane. What did you say?"

His voice is barely audible.

"Sorry I didn't catch that," she tells him, gradually, her annoyance with him is growing.

"I said…I love you."

An awkward silence lingers between them, both processing those three little words. Lisbon doesn't know what to say, how does she react to those eight letters. Jane is staring at her, his blue eyes transfix on her. She feels the same way about him, but the words just won't leave her lips.

"I'll leave you to rest," Jane tells her robotically, and then stands to leave.

"Jane wait," she manages to stop him before he reaches the door, he waits hoping that she will say it, "thanks for coming," is all she manages.

He briefly smiles, before walking out the door. She wants to call him back, to repeat those same three words, to, after years of longing, have his lips brush against hers. _Screw the rules…_ she's heard those words before, but she has no idea when.

"Jane," she whispers.

A few days pass by; Jane and Lisbon haven't heard anything from each other since their last meeting. Jane has not returned to the precinct, and Lisbon has been bed bound until today. The weather is awful, large grey clouds block out the sunlight and threaten a terrible thunderstorm. Breathing in the fresh air, Lisbon has only one thing on her mind, she has to patch up her relationship with Patrick, she's angry with him for not trying to speak to her, but she also understands that he wants some space. Having done nothing but read and watch television for the past few days, she is eager to get back into the fresh air and leave the confines of the hospital room behind her. Her first stop is to the precinct, to pick up what's left of her possessions that she had put into her gym bag. As soon as she steps out of the lift, she receives rapturous applause and numerous hugs from her fellow officers, glad that she is back on her feet. It is from Cho that she learns of Jane's absence, they have no idea why he hasn't returned, thankfully, they have not been assigned to a case, so his services have not been required. Cho offers to take her to his apartment, but she declines and bids them all a farewell as she leaves. It'll be a few weeks before she is able to go back to work, so until then, she has time to find a new apartment. The walk to Jane's doesn't take as long as she expects as the pavements are clear because of the weather, the fresh air allows her to clear her head and fully think through what she is going to tell him. It's all she's been thinking about since his visit, the hurt in his eyes still haunts her.

There has been a constant knocking at Jane's front door for about two minutes now, but he refuses to answer it. He can tell that it is Lisbon, but he cannot bear to face her, partly out of fear – he's been on the receiving end of her wrath several times and he's learnt his lesson – but it's mostly out of hurt, telling her something that he finds difficult to say discarded was like a bullet to the heart.

"Jane, for goodness sake, I know that you're in there, I just want to talk," she tells him, "please Patrick."

He tries to ignore her, but the hurt in her voice…

"There's nothing to talk about," he replies.

"Jane, let's not talk through a door about this, please."

Reluctantly, he gets off the sofa and opens the door. He looks more rugged than he usually is, his chin is peppered with stubble and his eyes look tired and lifeless.

"I'm sorry," she begins.

"Teresa…" he doesn't know what to say.

"Can I come in?"

He moves aside to allow her in, just as the rain starts to fall. Turning around, he is met by her emerald eyes staring at him, he returns her steady gaze.

"What do you want me to say, Patrick?" she asks him.

"Tell me, do you remember the pretend shooting a few years back?"

She nods in reply.

"You remember that what I told you before we left the building that night?"

"You told me that you loved me," she replies.

"And you asked me about it in the days after that?"

"Yes, I asked you whether you remember and you said that you didn't because you were 'hyped up'," Lisbon drops the gym bag before air quoting with her good hand.

"The truth is that I meant every word of it, and what I said the other day, I meant that too," he sighs before walking away.

"Jane, I do love you."

Her words make him freeze.

"I love you, and the reason why I didn't tell you the other day is because it was a shock."

He turns on his heels and walks straight up to her, stopping just a few centimetres away.

"You love me?"

"Yes, I do and don't you ever doubt that," she places her hand on his cheek.

He smiles, making his stubble tickle her palm. He leans forward, the centimetres close between them…their lips almost touch…

"Wait," she sighs, making him freeze again, "we can't do this."

"Nobody will know," he whispers.

She pulls away, removing her hand from his cheek, "like no one knew about Grace and Wayne?"

"Teresa, please," he pleads, a single tear trickles down his cheek.

Her own tears begin to fall, "I'm sorry, Patrick."

She picks up her bag, walks past Jane, out the door and into the pouring rain. Walking to the main road, she mentally scolds herself, _damn it Teresa, you were supposed to be making up with him, not torturing him. _By the main road, she puts her bag down and tries to find her mobile in her pocket.

"Looking for this?" Jane asks from behind her.

She spins around to find him standing there, her phone clasped in his hand.

"How'd you get that?"

"Magic hands," he tells her.

"Give it here," she tells him.

"Kiss me first," he replies.

"Jane, I'm not joking."

"Neither am I."

Without hesitation, she boldly walks up to him and tries to snatch it off him, her attempt is unsuccessful.

"Just one kiss," he tells her, "one kiss and the phone is yours."

She glances her lips on his cheek and then hold out her hand, expecting him to give it to her.

"Nope, on the lips," he's sounding more like his usual self, the mischievous glint in his eyes return; he's enjoying this.

"Have it your way," she gives in, and presses her lips to his.

They stand there for a moment in the torrential downpour, lips locked. She places her hand on the back of his head, wrapping her fingers in his damp curls, he responds by wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her closer. When they part for breath, he asks her "you sure you just came here to talk?"

"Oh shut up," she smiles, knowing that he's back to his usual playful self, and then pulls him closer.

**A/N: **Thank you so much for all the reviews and views, I really didn't expect to get so many in just over a week! I really appreciate it and hopefully, another one will be along soon. Lots of love, CallMeHannah. xx


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